Congress looks forward to life after Mamata

New Delhi, Sep 21 (IANS) The Congress Friday said it was looking forward to life after Mamata Bannerjee, adding that the exit of Trinamool Congress from the UPA will allow the government to work without hindrance.

“I hope the bickering within the government seen in the past three years will be no more. The UPA will try to deliver without any hindrance,” Congress general secretary in charge of West Bengal Shakeel Ahmed told IANS.

Banerjee has decided to quit the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) over the government’s decision to allow FDI in multi-brand retail, hike in diesel price and capping number of subsidised cooking gas cylinders for households.

Ahmed said that besides FDI in multi-brand retail, policy decisions on the anti-terror hub - the National Counter-Terrorism Centre and an attempt to shore up railway finances by raising fares were negated by the Banerjee, the Trinamool chief and West Bengal chief minister.

So irked was Banerjee when then railway minister Dinesh Trivedi proposed to raise fares in March this year that she got him replaced with her confidant Mukul Roy within days.

Stating that the alliance between the two parties was over, the Congress will in turn pull out of the Trinamool-led West Bengal government. The Congress is the junior partner in the government with six ministers - two cabinet and four ministers of state.

“Congress tried to accommodate her wishes but there is a limit to everything,” said Ahmed.

The Congress leader said Banerjee’s exit will have no impact on the stability of the UPA government and thanked both the Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati for supporting the government from outside.

“Hats off to both Mulayam and Mayawati,” said Ahmed.

According to the Congress, moving ahead with outside support of SP and BSP will not be another nightmare as the style of functioning of Mulayam Singh and Mayawati was different from that of Banerjee.